We booked into this motel in Assen because we had stayed at a van de Valk motel previously and had been very impressed. This made our disappointment all the greater when we encountered a frosty reception from a surly and unwelcoming lady at the front desk and we subsequently found that this was typical of just about all staff we encountered. As we are both Dutch speakers there was no element of language misunderstanding to explain away the manners of many of the staff – they are just downright discourteous. During breakfast on two successive mornings serving staff seemed to find the presence of guests a major inconvenience and responded to questions in the curtest and most unfriendly manner possible. One gets the impression they would be happier working in a correctional institution rather than in the hospitality industry. The breakfast buffet proved excellent as regards quality and quantity – the only exception being the fried, or rather undercooked, bacon, which was of the consistency and appearance of rubber and swimming in grease. We ate dinner in the restaurant one evening – the quality of food was adequate to good but the service would have benefited for being less uncouth.

The motel is very large and some of the rooms are remote from the reception area – women travelling alone might want to request accommodation closer to the central area since there does seem to be a crime problem in the vicinity, as evidenced by warning notices about thefts from the car-park. Our room accommodation was excellent and the bathroom (which was vast) contained a separate shower cubicle as well as a bath. Toiletries were restricted to a squeeze bottle of liquid soap on the wall. On two successive days other guest’s room service tray seemed to have been left in the corridors for seemingly endless times, making a very unhygienic impression.

The motel is conveniently located for motorway access on the edge of the town, but since parking is difficult in the rather gaudy and characterless town centre this can be a drawback if one wants to go there.

On balance, this is a motel which could be a very attractive proposition were a little more effort made by the management - courtesy costs nothing. We would not wish to stay there again.